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Some interesting ideas - some of them executed well hung together on an abysmal script and a cluttered and confused narrative. The DCEU has struggled to establish a consistent tone and so often its films have felt like the budget versions of Marvel's offerings, rather than establishing a tone of their own. Black Adam is no different - its tone is perhaps closest to that of Joss Whedon's original Avengers movie but its attempt to emulate the wit of that movie's dialogue falls entirely flat. Fans of DC comics will probably get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing some these characters brought to screen but for the uninitiated this movies introduction to Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Cyclone and Atom Smasher all feel like the poundshop clone versions of Marvel's more established heroes. The biggest casualties in this are Doctor Fate and Atom Smasher whose closest marvel equivalents Dr, Strange and Ant Man - had significantly better introductions having had their own films to establish their character, back story and motivations... As a result these characters feel tacked on - and although Pierce Brosnan's Doctor Fate has a bit of a sub-plot he isn't given nearly enough backstory to endear him to the audience... In fact all the characters in this film fail to make any sort of impact with the audience. Perhaps because the film attempts to spend its entire run trying to ape the humour of films like Guardians of the Galaxy or Marvel's Avengers and failing miserably. What character backstories there are, are delivered in sporadic exposition dumps and then little is done to really explore these characters - they feel like they've been selected purely so they can be put on the posters and in the trailers and not for anything they bring to the story... Atom Smasher and Cyclone in particular suffer from this and their presence in the film feels unnecessary... Likewise the film attempts to set Hawkman up as a foil to Black Adam Doctor Fate but the stakes never really feel there. The films narrative is a confused mess of metaphors about western imperialism in the middle east and narratives that don't really go anywhere or have any impact... plot points feel as if they've been chosen to hit a formulaic point in the narrative... And at times it feels as if characters are there because they want a particular theme represented - without really knowing what to do with those characters. No-one in this film is really likable or relatable and as a viewer it feels almost impossible to actually get invested in any of it. Out of its cast of characters only Peirce Brosnan's Doctor Fate and the Rock's Black Adam feel like they actually have any importance to the film. Had DC decided to actually use this as a starting point for a new wave of DC films - it would be a forgettable entry in the DCEU but one worth watching once perhaps just so you know who certain characters are... Now that DC is almost totally rebooting this feels like a film you can quite easily miss. Which is a shame because Dwayne Johnson clearly has a lot of love for this character.

Whilst Waititi resurrected the Thor franchise with Ragnarok... Love and Thunder buries itself in unfunny attempts at humour that rarely land. The tone of the film for almost the entire runtime is spoof. It's as though all the actors have given up on their characters in order to play parodies of them... or decided to goof around on set lampooning their own franchise and cobble a film together out of that. The one exception is Christian Bale who somehow manages to portray the character of Gor with a degree of seriousness... however under the avalanche of constant farce his performance feels totally wasted. Likewise, Natalie Portman's Jane Foster/Mighty Thor could have had a much more compelling narrative if it wasn't being interrupted by terrible jokes every 15 seconds.

Zack Snyder's Justice league is what happens when a director is given the keys to the sweet shop. The ensuing scene is a operatic epic of gastronomic gorging on everything - more! more! more! There can never be enough candies, caramels and chocolates, white mice, Jelly beans, cola bottles, those 2 metre long marshmallows you are fed it all until you sit feeling very bloated crashing from a sugar high with chocolate smeared around your grinning face... By contrast the 2017 Whedon cut was the child who visited the same sweet shop with a too small allowance and only 2 minutes to decide what you really want... You come away with a bag of treats but ultimately unsated and lamenting the fact you didn't have enough for the jelly babies. Snyder's movie has significantly longer to do more. Characters are given more back-story, we have time to reflect upon events instead of bounding from too short scene to too short scene. There are opportunities to set the tone with more imagery and music. The story and the director can take his time. That doesn't pay off in every instance, though. That longer runtime certainly improves things in one way - but some of the changes Whedon made to get his cut to a shorter run-time are simply better written. The most obvious example of a major change is the expanded Cyborg arc. Snyder takes a long time to establish the character's back story, his powers and abilities and his strained relationship with his father. The problem is that its just not well done at all. The dialogue is entirely expository and the choice of visuals used to demonstrate Cyborg's powers are basically achieved with poor CGI. Whedon managed the same character work in 2 minutes of fantastic dialogue - but its ultimately too short and leaves you wanting much more. Some of Whedon's jokes never really landed in the theatrical cut and these are thankfully absent in Snyder's version. Where Whedon's best work on the movie was most evident was where he was forced to get to the point quicker by a studio mandated shorter runtime. The longer Snyder-cut unfortunately loses some of Whedon's better additions in favour of a significantly slower burn. Its 2 hours into Snyder's cut before we get Batman in the batsuit... in Whedon's cut its in the first 10 minutes which is more satisfying. Some scenes in Snyder's version benefit from being given more time to breathe - others very much don't. There is a lot of Amazonian mourning and a nonsensical icelandic wailing song at the end of the first Aquaman scene which add nothing - but there is also time taken to establish the mood of scenes that Whedon had to rush through. The longer fight scenes are also better composed in Snyder's version - although his over-use of slow motion and bullet-time in these sequences borders on the absurd. Snyder also throws characters into his cut that have no reason to be there. Martian manhunter adds nothing as does the character of Iris West - basically there for the Flash to oggle over for an uncomfortable 30 seconds that makes the character feel somewhat pervy. But Snyder also gets to add in 2 extra villains that serve the narrative of the movie far better and make for a more compelling primary antagonist and much higher stakes. Somewhere in this 4 hour slog is an excellent 3 hour movie but as it stands it creates as many issues as it solves.

With Zelda games every iteration brings something new and often groundbreaking to the table... Here the team at Nintendo really upended the tea table and totally rethought the conventions of what makes a good Zelda game... That's a risky strategy for a series as well loved as this one, and yet in BoTW it pays off. Whilst there are elements of past games that I would have liked to have seen such as longer and more varied dungeons... Hyrule's overworld is so packed with environmental puzzles and obstacles that you are never short of anything to do. The game is perhaps the most open world a game has ever been. In fact once you have gotten off the Great Plateau (the game's introductory training area) you can, if you so choose, go straight to the end boss (good luck with that). But the less sadomasochistic player will spend hours exploring the Land of Hyrule, opening up the map, tackling the divine beasts (this games versions of dungeons) and the 100 shrines (mini dungeons) dotted about the place, that will help you build Link up into a force to be reckoned with... The game's difficulty starts out hard and gets easier as your character becomes stronger... allowing you to test yourself against harder and harder enemies... Rarely has mastering a game felt so much fun.